Gotcha
by Aldera Bright
Summary: Brianna is finally released from the hospital and after much Skypeing and FaceTiming is finally meeting her extended family in person. Two parts; Oneshot.
1. Part One

"So I saw that Bree's adoption papers finally went through," Shannon grinned at Drew in the break room.

"That they did. And she's almost out of here too."

"Excited for her to come home?"

"You have no idea. We've painted her room, Rick built her a loft-style bed, we've gotten her a desk, a dresser, a chair, and a rug, and then we figure we'll let her pick out a couple of lamps, her desk chair, her bedspread and that sort of stuff. Same with her bathroom."

"That's awesome."

"Speaking of which… One awkward area. Teenage daughter. Two dads. Can you find out her preferences of feminine care? I figure we'll stick them in her bathroom to begin with, but after that… Are we supposed to check to see when she's out? Are we supposed to buy them for her when she asks? Are we supposed to give her money to do it herself? We're fine with anything, we're more than happy to go to the store and buy them for her, but…"

"But it's the second to last conversation a teenage girl wants to have with her dad. If I were you I would just be straight with her. You're a doctor, Rick has had female soldiers in the field, it's nothing personal, treat it that way. If you don't act embarrassed about it, it'll be a lot easier."

"I think I'll make her a whole kit this time so she doesn't have to bring it up if she doesn't want to. Heating pad, hot water bottle, Midol."

"A pack of dark underwear. The special feminine wipes are also great. If she freaks out at some point, don't ask, just go and get her a giant candy bar."

"That's a great idea. Teenage hormones are the worst. I can't imagine being a girl through all of them. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment, but I'll keep it in mind. I know she doesn't have a ton of clothes."

"Oh yeah, no, new lungs, new house, new wardrobe seems like a requirement. Plus back to school shopping. They have a uniform, but we'll also get new jammies and jeans and underclothes and all of that. It just makes sense."

"How are your families reacting to it?"

"Our siblings are excited. You've probably caught her Skyping with them and the nieces and nephews. I'm not unconvinced that she talks to them more than us. Rick's parents have already said to let us know when she'll be discharged because they wouldn't miss her homecoming. My parents… I don't know. Part of me worries that because they rejected me, they're going to reject her and so I don't even want to attempt, but…"

"You want her to have two sets of grandparents."

"Yeah. She's the best. She deserves two sets of adoring grandparents."

"One thing at a time. She's got two great parents. She's got aunts, uncles, cousins, and one set of grandparents that already love her. Give it time." 

The morning that Bree finally was being allowed to go home she got up early, before Drew finished his shift. She packed what few things she had, put on a pair of jean shorts and a tee shirt, and then sat flipping through 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.'

A nurse came in to give her a round of anti-rejection meds along with breakfast. "Last dose here," the nurse grinned. "Ready to go home?"

"Yeah," she took a deep breath. "I'm not entirely sure what to expect, but everyone's been hinting that it's amazing, so… I'm guessing it will be."

"What's the first thing you're going to do when you get home?"

"Flop on my bed." She'd been picturing it for weeks, having chosen her own bedspread, sheets, pillows, and a huge body pillow.

"And the second thing?"

"Explore. They've recently gotten very interested in Ninja Warrior and knowing my dads… We have at least four obstacles in our backyard by this point. We didn't have any when I was at home two weeks ago."

"The first thing you're going to eat?"

"I don't know. We're having a barbecue with our extended family later in the day, so I'll probably try and scrounge from whatever stuff we bought for it." She picked at her breakfast, too full of happy butterflies to be hungry.

"Good luck."

"Thanks. I've already Skyped with almost everyone, so at least they'll be familiar."

Rick came into the room. "Hey."

"Hey. You're here early."

"Yup. Drew's just signing your discharge papers."

"Cool."

Rick walked over and hugged her. "You're coming home!"

She laughed. "I'm coming home."

"Nervous?"

"Maybe a little. But I'm always nervous after a hospitalization."

"This time you still have plenty of summer break left."

"Yeah and I get to start the new school year with everyone knowing I'm never going to have to transition again. Ever." She paused as it really started to hit. "This is my forever family. Even if I have to come back to the hospital, you're gonna be here for me 100% of the way," tears filled her eyes. "It's stupid and I know I'm healthy and my lungs are great and I'm so blessed, but… if something bad happens again, I'm not on my own. I don't need to know every single thing about my health because I'll be coming back to this hospital with doctors and nurses that already know me and parents that know everything they possibly can." In that moment, she dropped her guard and started sobbing. Everything was finally okay.

Drew came in. "Those better be tears of joy."

"They are," she stood up and reached for both of her dads. They, together, scooped her up into a hug between them.

"Daughter sandwich," Rick laughed.

Bree hugged them as tightly as she could with one arm each and then kissed each on their respective cheek, shocked at her own familiarity. "Alright, down." She beamed. These were her dads.

They set her down as requested.

Paul, Shannon, and Nina came in and Paul handed handed Drew the final packet of paperwork, a string bag full of anti-rejection meds, and then reached for Brianna. He hugged her tightly. "You are officially released. But don't be a stranger."

"I won't be," Brianna promised. "Check in appointments, plus that whole 'dad works here' thing."

Shannon got her next. There were tears in her eyes as she hugged Bree. "I love you. I'm proud of you. You can always call me for anything. Sometimes dads, great as they are, just don't get it."

"I know. I love you too. Thanks," she hugged Shannon back tightly.

"You'll have to tell me what you think of your new digs." She'd helped put a bunch of the finishing touches on it, but Bree didn't know that yet.

"I will. I'm sure it's going to be awesome." She turned her attention to Nina. "Are you still my caseworker after this?"

"Nope. I don't even technically need to be here today, but I couldn't miss you finally blowing this joint."

"I'm glad you didn't. You've been amazing. Thank-you so much for fighting so hard for me," she hugged her.

"You're 100% worth fighting for. Never forget that."

"Something tells me I won't be allowed to now," she grinned at her dads.

"Never," Rick promised.

"You three are coming to the barbecue later, right?" Drew wanted to know.

"Of course," Paul confirmed.

"Kenny and I will both be there," Nina confirmed. It was chaos, but things were tentatively going well.

Bree, Rick, and Drew carried her stuff out to the Ford Explorer that would now be serving duty as the family car. Rick and Drew still both had their respective F-250s, but the Explorer was better suited to family life.

"You ready for this?" Drew grinned at Bree in the rearview mirror.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure you don't want me to sit back there with you? Or do you want to sit up here?" Rick offered.

"It's fine. I'm good. This is where I'm meant to be."

While they were driving along streets that she'd been on before, everything felt different. Breathing was automatic and easy. This was her family. Hers. It could never be taken away from her, and she would never want to be taken away.

"Almost home," Rick grinned back at her as Drew turned into their neighborhood.

As they pulled into the driveway, Brianna took a deep breath in as reality once again hit. She'd been here a few times before on passes, but… That was before the official confirmation of her adoption had gone through. Before she knew that this was real and this was forever.

They walked inside together and she led them upstairs. While she'd been to the house, her room had been off limits. It was a surprise. The door was closed and Bree smiled, seeing her name on it.

When she opened it, her mouth fell open. "Narnia." The walls were green with trees outlined on them, her bed was lofted and there was a comfy looking brown velvet chair with a reading light next to it and a white shaggy rug in front of it. She threw herself into the chair, kicked her legs up on the arm, and took a deep breath in of the fresh paint.

"Welcome home," Drew spoke.


	2. Part Two

When the first car pulled up in front of their house, Bree saw from her room and went running downstairs. She was a little surprised at her own enthusiasm, but this was home. It immediately felt like home. She was a little worried that after an extended hospitalization the last thing she would want was to see a bunch of people, but… She was home, she was healthy, these people that were now her cousins and aunts and uncles had been Skyping with her for weeks. She couldn't wait to finally meet them in person.

"DAAAADS, PEOPLE ARE HERE!" she yelled as she ran out the door.

It turned out to be her grandparents.

"Meemaw! PawPaw!" she greeted as they got out of the car.

"How are you?" Meemaw immediately hugged her.

"Good."

"How do you like your Narnia room?"

"It's amazing!"

"Good."

Rick came outside to hug his parents. "Hey!"

"Hey, will you carry in this box?" his dad requested.

"Of course."

It was open and Bree could see full of wrapped presents with her name on them. She blushed and went to give PawPaw a hug. "Thanks so much for coming out here."

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," he hugged her tightly. "Haven't missed the birth of a grandkid yet."

"This'll come as a shock, but I wasn't actually born today."

"Yeah you were, Drew was doing some heavy labor but thankfully he's recovered," Rick joked.

Bree rolled her eyes.

"It's your official 'Gotcha' day. Go with it."

"Okay."

Brianna had fun being hugged and kissed as family members arrived. Soon the grilling had started, sides were put out on the kitchen table, and by the time Paul, Shannon, Nina, and Kenny got there a half an hour after her grandparents arrived, everyone was sitting around in the backyard. Bree sat in a circle with her cousins on all sides, a big plate full of brisket, cornbread, potato salad, and a huge slice of watermelon resting on her lap. She was theirs. From all of the Skyping, she understood the vast majority of what they were talking about, and they understood why when she would say that she hadn't done something. No explanations needed. They knew her.

"I belong here," she looked at the cousin sitting next to her.

"Of course you do! Was that even a question?"

"Honestly, yeah. I don't know. I thought it would be hard. The transitions were always hard before. Even when they were relatively easy. But this… I feel like I've done this a million times. This is just another family barbecue that we're all together for."

"It is just another family barbecue we're all together for," one laughed. "You've just been rudely not showing up for the last fourteen years," Maya, a 10-year-old teased.

"Yeah Bree, we've wanted your Bree-ness, why did you keep us waiting?" Ashlynn, Maya's older sister, and the former oldest girl at 11, looked at her. "Now you owe us. Like we need sleepovers."

"Definitely," she easily agreed.

As a lull developed around the yard, Rick came over and grabbed Bree. "C'mon, we're gonna do the cake."

Bree rolled her eyes, but smiled and stood up and walked with him to what was kind of the middle where Drew was standing.

Drew spoke. "If I could have your attention, I think it's time to officially celebrate the 'Gotcha' girl. While in some families you need to get a girl to start a family, in ours… it turned out we needed one to complete it. I met Bree on what was arguably the worst night of her life. She was smart, spunky, and so solid even with the upheaval that her life had consistently been. I got home and told Rick about her and he looked at me and was like 'Wait…' And he knew. He knew way before I would admit it to myself that this was the only ending that could possibly happen," he reached out and squeezed Rick's hand.

Rick grinned. "That morning, I thought he was a little insane. Maybe a little baby crazy. Like 'we're finally married, we can just live as a married couple for a while, slow down.' But the more he talked about her the more I had to meet her, even though I knew I couldn't meet her unless things were getting serious. And he begged for days. 'Just come meet her, c'mon, you'll be convinced.' Little did he know, I was already pretty convinced. So I finally said 'okay.' And it was instant.

"You read all of these stories about parents falling in love with their children that they've carried for nine months or they've watched their wife carry for nine months, and you read just as many stories about it taking time for dads to really feel bonded to their children because they didn't carry them for nine months, but… As soon as I looked in her eyes I knew I was her dad." He took a deep breath. "It was the best feeling in the entire world. It's taken 14 years, a lot of heartbreak, and a lot of closets for all three of us, but she was born to be our daughter. And we're so happy that she's finally with us, healthy, and in her forever home."

"Hey Bree, when I asked if you would let us be your parents, what were you thinking?" Drew wanted to know.

"Initially I was like 'this didn't just happen, he didn't just say that?!' and then I felt so much relief. At that point all I needed to worry about was getting new lungs. I had my forever family and that seemed impossible and yet now the impossible had happened, so why not one more miracle? But after that even waiting for my lungs was easier because I was never alone. You all," she looked out at her extended family, "Were Skyping and texting me constantly and when I had the ventilator over my mouth and nose and couldn't really talk you'd still call and just tell me all about what you were doing or FaceTime me baseball games or whatever people were gathered at. You never stopped making me feel a part of things. Even though I was sick and stuck in the hospital and you'd never met me before. It was the coolest thing in the entire world. And now I'm here and I was telling my cousins this -it feels like forever."

"Good. Cause it is forever. Drew, if you want to go and grab the cake… we might've had an idea," Rick grinned.

"Oh no," Bree saw the look in his eyes. "This is my first day home. You can't put me through that much."

Drew came back outside with a giant Costco cake decorated with an American flag, and 'Happy Gotcha Day Brianna!' in bold letters. In each stripe of the flag was a different number of candles, and then a row below her name as well.

"Just out of curiosity… How many candles are there?" Bree wanted to know. It seemed at least slightly excessive.

"105."

"Why?"

"Because we had to make up for all of the candles we missed watching you blow out. We also figured you'd appreciate the chance to use your new lungs for something fun."

"Oh my goodness… I don't even know if I can do this."

"You'll be great," Rick told her as he and Drew quickly began to light all of the candles. As he was doing it, he started singing 'Happy Gotcha Day to you,' and everyone joined in. "Happy Gotcha Day Dear Brianna Alister-Lincoln… Happy Gotcha Day to you!"

Bree had the biggest smile she thought she'd ever worn as she started blowing out row after row of the candles. She was shocked when she managed to do it before any of the wax had actually melted onto the cake as everyone cheered.

"Did you make a wish?" an aunt asked her.

"Just to experience every bit of family life possible with you guys for the next eighty years." She didn't mind sharing it.

The cake was cut, ice cream was adorned on the side, and then it was time for Bree to open presents.

"So everyone was really excited to get presents for you," Drew told her. "And we ended up assigning by family; two families chipped in on each present, but you'll have individual cards from everyone."

It took Bree almost an hour and a half to get through all of the gifts and cards. She loved every single one of them. Every cousin had made her a card, her aunts and uncles gifted her cards that said "niece," and her grandparents "granddaughter." She felt so special. The boxes that had been put together were amazing. Tons of old books in one, DVDs in another, school uniform pieces along with socks, underwear, and bras in another, and special blankets in a fourth. With this she had everything she would need to not only feel at home here, but at home in the world. After going without for years in foster care, it was an odd feeling.

"Alright, the docs have to get out of here, so go and give them hugs good bye," Drew told Bree.

She went over and hugged Kenny, Nina, Shannon, and Paul in turn. "Thank-you guys so much for coming."

"Of course. We'll see you soon. But not that soon," Kenny grinned. He looked at Drew. "Enjoy your two weeks off."

"Will do."

After the docs left, everyone else did shortly thereafter too. It had been an exhausting, fun, and exhilarating day, and everyone could tell that Bree didn't quite have the stamina for it just yet. She was hugged tightly good bye, with promises to see her soon, and then she headed into the family room and flopped on the couch.

"Beat?" Rick looked at her.

"Big time."

"Happy?"

"100%. How did you guys manage all of that?"

"You did a lot. Everyone was so excited from talking with you so much. I get the feeling we're going to be making up for lost time for quite a while," he told her.

"I don't know. It's funny. I always thought I'd want that. And yet now I'm just here and happy and there's nothing to make up for. Today took care of that. Now I'm just one of y'all. And it's chaotic and loud and perfect. Although I'm liking the quiet now." She was almost asleep.

Rick waited until she fell asleep and then went and found Drew.

"Is she out?" he grinned.

"Oh yeah. She crashed hard."

"It was a big day."

"Huge. But for me too."

"Yeah?"

"My dad pulled me aside and said 'I'm fully on board. You two love that little girl every bit as much as your mom and I love you and your siblings. It's abundantly clear that it's exactly the same. The genders don't matter, the love is the same.'"

Drew's jaw dropped.

"Maybe I'm just on a high because today is so good, but I have to think… if anything is going to make your dad come around, it just might be her. I get that my dad wasn't nearly as bad as what you dealt with, but…"

"A child shall lead them."

"Or a teenager with attitude problems. Can you imagine Bree's response if she noticed him treating you differently?"

"You may have a point." Drew wandered into the family room and glanced at his sleeping daughter. She looked completely peaceful and in that, he took a picture and sent it to his parents:

'Your granddaughter just passed out on the couch after a full 'Gotcha' day with most of the family. Miss you guys! -Drew'

 **Author's Notes:** Wanted to get this up because there's no new episode tonight due to the Olympics. Initially when I posted it I was about to fall asleep and was like "Aaaah, this just needs to go up." XOs for your reviews, favorites, and follows! Leave plot requests. -Aldera B.


End file.
